Heaviest rain in months heading to Southern California

AccuWeather.com reports the second half of this week will feature soaking rain and mountain snow returning to drought-stricken California. Confidence is growing for much of California to soon receive a substantial amount of rain and mountain snow from two storm systems. According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Marc Mancuso,” The combination of the two storms have the potential to bring the biggest rains to Southern California, since March of 2011.”The first system is scheduled to move through California Wednesday through Thursday with the second to follow for Friday through the first part of the the weekend.
The second is likely to be the stronger and wetter of the two systems, bringing a much-needed soaking to many communities (with the deserts being the exception).
If the first storm bypasses or only grazes Southern California, the second will not. It is possible that Downtown Los Angeles receives at least half of the rain that fell in all of 2013 (3.60 inches) from this one storm Friday through next weekend.
Several inches of rain could soak the northern California coast, while feet of snow may blanket the Sierra. Snow levels could drop low enough to whiten the mountains of Southern California.
The upcoming rain and mountain snow will definitely be welcome to a state where the percentage area of places enduring an extreme to exceptional drought was 68 percent on Feb. 18, the U.S. Drought Monitor stated in its latest report.
The number was nearly 61 percent the week prior.
California’s Department of Water Resources states that the amount of water stored in the snowpack across the Sierra was only 25 percent of normal on Friday.
-Courtesy Photo